When Liberals Make Me Face Palm 3: All Enemies Foreign And Domestic

My fellow liberals seem to be…what’s the phrase I’m looking for? Um…going insane about the White Paper recently obtained by NBC news. Don’t get me wrong. There are a lot of questions and problems involved in this information. There are a lot of issues we should be examining but we aren’t examining most of them.

Many of the people freaking right out haven’t read this paper. I know this because they are claiming it contains points that simply aren’t there. There is no authorization for attacks inside the United States. Sorry, nope, not there.

Drones are not “pilotless,” as people enjoy claiming. They have pilots, the pilots are just not in the cockpit of the plane. The planes are still flown by trained pilots. Now, I was an Air Force aircraft maintainer, so I’m not able to pretend that pilots are inherently rational or responsible without laughing myself into some sort of seizure, so don’t get me wrong. I’m not say that the strikes are a good thing. All I’m saying is that drones aren’t really that different than regular air strikes. They’re just a bit safer for members of our military. Personally, I think that’s good.

There is oversight. Yeah, yeah, I know, this is the big point of drama. OMG NO OVERSIGHT. Except this White Paper was presented to Congress in June. That term you’re thinking of right now? It’s congressional oversight. You know, oversight of the executive branch by Congress, specifically in the area of war powers.

Oh and the Authorization of the Use of Military Force Against Terrorists of 2001 specifically grants the president, any president,

(a) IN GENERAL- That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.

(b) War Powers Resolution Requirements-

(1) SPECIFIC STATUTORY AUTHORIZATION- Consistent with section 8(a)(1) of the War Powers Resolution, the Congress declares that this section is intended to constitute specific statutory authorization within the meaning of section 5(b) of the War Powers Resolution.

(2) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER REQUIREMENTS- Nothing in this resolution supersedes any requirement of the War Powers Resolution.

The fact that there’s no judicial oversight is, perhaps an issue and one that requires careful examination and research. While we’re at it let’s examine and research all of the gaps in our judicial oversight. There are a lot of them and that’s a problem.

There’s also some serious double speak that obfuscates the meaning of the term “imminent attack,” as to make it sound frighteningly akin to “when we feel like it.”

However, the fact that American citizens can be targeted is frankly, not that big a deal. The government has always had the right and the ability to do that. It’s pretty much specified in every oath that every member of the US government is asked to take.

As a veteran I was well aware that the citizenship status of an “enemy” makes no difference for three reasons. If a person is in the United States, it doesn’t matter if they are a citizen, the Constitution still applies to them. They have a right to privacy, free speech, freedom of religion and so on. Unless they brake the law, they are covered just like any0one else. If a person is not in the United States, the laws of the host country may apply, it kind of depends on the situation. Most importantly, if you’re a terrorist, your constitutional rights pretty much go bye bye. “All enemies foreign and domestic,” means “we don’t give a fuck where you were born or had your passport stamped. If you fuck up we are coming for you.”

Now, there is a huge argument to be made that your rights should remain. I largely agree with that argument. I think that we should be treating suspected or admitted terrorists just like we do every other criminal and not is some bizarre extra-legal, quasi-military make it up as we go along fashion.

Terrorists are not soldiers. They don’t put on uniforms and stand up and fight. They sneak attack civilians. KSM, for example, isn’t Patton, he isn’t even Goebbels, who did horrible things but was, at least a soldier. KSM planned a murder. That’s a crime. He’s no different than a gang leader or the head of a drug cartel. He’s a criminal and needs to be treated as such. All terrorists do. But let’s not pretend that this treatment is new or shocking. It isn’t. And I am frankly, baffled as to why everyone is pretending to be shocked.